League of Women Voters of Georgia
Under the Gold Dome
April 12-19, 2010
Week 14
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League of Women Voters of Georgia
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Nonpartisan News From The Georgia Capitol

Published weekly by the League of Women Voters of Georgia Education Fund
Editor: Tracey-Ann Nelson
 
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Ethics in Georgia

Ethics violations by state legislators have become a growing concern in Georgia.  Additionally the cross-pollination of legislator and lobbyist continues to blur the lines of representation and relations in the Georgia General Assembly. In order to combat abuse, several legislators have shown their support of HB 920 and SB 17.  Both pieces of legislation have been largely ignored by both houses. 
 
HB 920 makes it unlawful for any candidate running for office to receive funds over the amount of $10,000 and use money to contribute to someone else's campaign or reimburse those who voted for them. Many candidates are left with a debt due to over spending and want to use the funds to pay personal obligations. 

SB 17 was similar to HB 855 (which was dropped last session), for candidates who spent or raised over $20,000 in an election cycle, they must fill out a campaign disclosure report and electronically file a personal disclosure report. The Ethics Commission will also be responsible for making all violations public. By increasing the transparency in government, the public will be able to discover what happens to all contributions in a candidate's campaign for a given election year. Citizens will able to see if lobbyists are influencing legislators with campaign contributions or if legislators are acting inappropriately with taxpayer money. Currently, the House Ethics committee has favorably reported HB 855.
 
These two bills were introduced at the beginning of the session in January 2010 as a result of recent scandals involving former Speaker of the House Glen Richardson and a lobbyist. The Joint Legislative Ethics Committee Chair was aware of the ethical breach, and chose not to pursue any ethics charges.  Recently a candidate for governor was found to have used campaign funds to attend the Oscars. Earlier this week, the AJC revealed that lawmakers billed the state for nearly $3.6 million in per diem payments from Jan. 1, 2008, through March 19, 2010, at the same time the state budget was being slashed by $3 billion, teachers and employees were furloughed and state troopers were taken off the roads.
 
Yet amid little oversight and minimal auditing, few questions are asked of a system that pays some lawmakers more than $20,000 per year, in addition to their $17,342 annual salary and up to $6,900 they may receive for expenses during the annual legislative session.
 
The biggest recipients of the payouts since January 2008 in the House were former Rep. Vance Smith (Dist. 129), who was the Transportation Committee chairman and is now commissioner of the Department of Transportation. He's followed by Rep. Mark Burkhalter (Dist. 50), who was speaker pro tem for most of the time in question, and Appropriations Committee Chairman Ben Harbin (Dist. 118). The top recipients in the Senate were Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Hill (Dist. 4), Sen. David Shafer (Dist. 48), Sen. Greg Goggans (Dist. 7) and Rules Committee Chairman Don Balfour (Dist. 9). Each made more than $40,000 in per diems in the time period.
 
For the complete story of legislators' per diems http://www.ajc.com/news/government-waste/per-diems-a-costly-460180.html
 
Some information was provided by Common Cause of Georgia.
General Assembly Calendar
 
The General Assembly will meet for days 37 through 40 on the following schedule - Tuesday - 4/20, Wednesday -4/21, Tuesday - 4/27 and sine die on Wednesday -4/28.
Budget
 The House version of the budget for  FY 2011 passed on April 14th with a 120-52 vote. HB 948  incorporates $229 million in new revenues from a temporary hospital provider fee (HB 307) and $96 million from increases in various state fees. The budget also includes $287 million in one-time revenues from the securitization of a portion of the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority loan portfolio. 
 
At $17.8 billion, the 2011 budget is $1 billion more than the FY 2010 budget.  Most of the cuts came from health and human services, arts, and education.  Funding for the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) was $3.2 million for FY 2010.  Under the Governor's recommendation, the GCA FY 2011 budget may be reduced to $1.5 million; under the House's version, GCA would be done away with altogether. 

Also cut in the House version are the Georgia Halls of Fame of Music, Sports, and Aviation, The National Science Center and Foundation, Lake Allatoona Preservation Authority, and injury prevention training for community health practitioners. Food stamps and other low-income assistance programs would be cut under the House budget and would depend wholly on the federal government. The program would no longer be funded to the tune of $37 million from the state budget.  The amended budget will now go to the Senate for approval and then to Governor Perdue.

Governor Perdue has proposed a budget that is $18.2 billion, making it half a billion dollars more than the House version. The most discernable difference comes from an increase of $50 million in community affairs programs, particularly towards the One Georgia Authority, which is a building authority that funds low-income families and small business. Another difference in the two budgets is the addition of $41 million to the transportation budget; the Governor has requested interstate improvement.
Quick Links
In This Issue
Ethics
General Assembly Calendar
Budget
Senate Judiciary
Transportation
Legislation
 90 
Senate Judiciary Committee removes review from death-penalty statute

Ernie Suggs - AJC 
 The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to strip the so-called "proportionality review" from Georgia's death-penalty statute.
The proportionality review, which legal experts have called a critical part of the state's capital punishment law, is conducted by the Georgia Supreme Court. In its review, the court compares a death sentence to punishment in other cases to ensure a capital sentence is not excessive or disproportionate. The review is meant to ensure that capital cases are not imposed arbitrarily.
The move to strip the review from state law is part of House Bill 323, which now goes to the Senate floor for a vote.
Transportation
 
SR 822, sponsored by Senator Jeff Mullis from the 53rd district.  The bill urges the Department of Transportation to seek a waiver from Federal Highway Administration to allow retail developments along interstate highways, mostly in rest areas. House Transportation Committee favorably reported the bill.
Senator Mullis also sponsored SB 39, which provides for a 1% sales tax on all transportation projects in special transportation districts within the state. It details the parameters for constructing and contracting transportation projects. The bill has passed both houses and is being sent to a conference committee to work out amendments that were added in the Senate.
 
Bill to help pay for C-TRAN moves out of key Senate committee
HB 1393 passed out of the Senate Finance Committee and moves to the Rules Committee.  HB 1393, authored by Rep. Roberta Abdul-Salaam (Dist. 74), would allow Clayton County citizens to vote on an additional 1% sales tax to fund C-TRAN.  The bill raises the cap that counties can levy on sales taxes, as well as extends the exemption from motor fuel taxes for public transit systems for another two years.

STATE COUNCIL 2010 
 April 24th, 2010
Emory University 9am - 4pm
Topics include:

Federal Healthcare Legislation Explained
LWV National Convention
Arms Control
Redistricting in Georgia
Non-Profit Board Training
 
 Reserve your seat now:
Advance: $50
Day Of: $65
Legislation

 
ENERGY, UTILITIES, AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
HB 168 - Rep. Cox (Dist. 102)
Amends Georgia Code on telecommunications services and would make changes to the state's Universal Access Fund.  It retains the ability of the Public Service Commission (PSC) to receive customer complaints relating to AT&T and its land-line market, but PSC would be prohibited from acting on those complaints. AT&T's land-line business is one of the few voice competitors still bound at least partially by state regulation. It also remains obligated to serve all customers and receives public financial support for doing that. Status: House Agree Senate Amend or Sub
 
INSURANCE
HB 1184 - Sen. Ramsey (Dist. 72)
Would allow insurers to purchase individual insurance in other states.  Out-of-state insurance companies would have to meet actuarial standards of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and must be approved by the state Insurance Commissioner.  Also, the bill requires insurers to be made aware that the benefits of their out-of-state insurance policy are regulated by the state in which it was purchased, and so they may differ from Georgia's health mandates.  Status:  Senate Read Second Time
HB 1101- Rep. Coan (Dist. 101)
Makes several provisions for the Self-insurers Guaranty Trust fund in an attempt to make it more difficult to commit fraud. Status: Senate Passed/Adopted
 
WAYS AND MEANS
SB 346 - Sen. Rogers (Dist. 21)
Revises the state's property tax assessment and appeals process so that every property owner would get an annual assessment notice regardless of whether their property has changed in value. The Board of Equalization would also be required to have updated training every five years.  Moreover, it would allow for the creation of regional Boards of Equalization and would reduce the time period that property owners could appeal their property tax assessment from one year to 45 days.  Status:  House Committee Favorably Reported
 
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
HB 1040 - Rep. Pruett (Dist. 144)
Amends Georgia Code relating to the Georgia Registered Professional Nurse Practice Act and grants unlicensed caretakers the ability to perform certain health maintenance activities in the home.  Status:  Senate Read Second Time
 
EDUCATION
SB 239 - Sen. Ramsey (Dist. 43)
Revises certain provisions relating to the school system's mandatory attendance policy.  This bill requires new residents in a local school system to enroll a child within 15 days.  Any parent, guardian who fails to enroll a child is guilty of a misdemeanor and could be fined up to $500, face jail time for 10 days, and other penalties at the discretion of the court having jurisdiction.  This bill also mandates schools to turn over the student to the solicitor if the child has 30 unexcused absences.  Status:  House Committee Favorably Reported
 
Governmental Affairs
HB 1322 - Rep. Chambers (Dist. 81)
Enacts the Meredith Emerson Privacy Act, which prohibits the disclosure of crime scene photographs and audio or video recordings that depict or describe a deceased person in a state of dismemberment, decapitation, or similar mutilation where the deceased person's genitalia are exposed. Exemptions would be made for police video footage or 9-1-1 audio recordings of a person in physical pain or in distress.  Status:  Senate Transmits House

KEY
HB- House Bill  HR- House Resolution 
SB- Senate Bill  SR- Senate Resolution  CA-Constitutional Amendment
 

The League of Women Voters of Georgia, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major policy issues and influences public policy.